


Cows

by evansrogerskitten



Category: Dean Winchester - Fandom, Sam Winchester - Fandom, Supernatural
Genre: Fluff, Other, Season 14 Spoilers, Weechesters, inadvertent angst, those boys had nothing but each other!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-16
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-05-12 15:17:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19231723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evansrogerskitten/pseuds/evansrogerskitten
Summary: Sam and Dean have a road trip mantra that brought more comfort than they knew.





	Cows

**Author's Note:**

> Fills my Free Space Square for Fluff Bingo
> 
> I came up with this headcanon during my recent road trip. I do this, so I thought it'd be precious if the boys did to.

Surprisingly, it was John’s idea.

As he crisscrossed the country in search of Mary’s killer, two small children in tow, occasionally he’d think of something positive to teach the boys besides salt lines and fear.

“Hey Sam, Dean, look over there,” John turned the radio down, The Eagles fading to a dull beat as they crossed I-80 through Nebraska. “See the brown cows?”

“Yeah!” Little Sammy plastered his face to the glass of the backseat window and watched as the fields of livestock went by. Dean wasn’t saying much then, he hadn’t said much for the last few years. But he nodded as he watched the herds go by.

“What sound does a cow make?” John asked.

“Moooooo!” Sam giggled.

Soon the Impala passed a field of sheep. “What’s a sheep say?”

As Sammy shouted, “Bahhhh!” a second quieter voice added, “Bah Bah Bah.”

Yellow and green fields of corn rolled beside them for a hour until the Impala crested a small plain, revealing a big red barn and a band of black horses.

“What does a horse say?” Dean asked before John could.

“Neighhhhh!” Sam laughed.

“Look Sammy, there’s a dog out there too!” It was the first time John had seen Dean smile in weeks. 

“Woof Woof!” Sam giggled. “Dad, can we get a dog?”

Dean shuddered a breath, waiting for the imminent scolding. But John was in a good mood and his kids had made him smile.

“Maybe someday Sammy. Someday we’ll get you a dog.”

John knew keeping his sons out of school when they were so little was just a sacrifice that had to be done. The boys grew up, shuffled in and out of schools, and the animal sounds game stopped. The monsters in the dark grew more dangerous and life became about survival rather than teaching. Sam became a sullen teenager who rarely spoke except to defy his father and hiss at his playboy brother. Years passed, Mary’s killer got farther away, and then Sam left.

Four years later, as the Impala put Blackwater Ridge behind them, Sam stared out the window at Colorado going by. He missed Jessica so much he could hardly breathe. But being next to Dean, in the one home he’d always known, Sam felt safe even though he knew it was temporary.

“Cows.” Sam didn’t even realize he’d said it until the herd of Herefords were behind them.

“What?” Dean chuckled. “Did you just say _cows_?”

Sam shrugged and smiled. “I saw some.”

It happened again in Missouri. 

"Cows." 

"Really dude? You wanna practice animal sounds too?" 

Sam would just laugh, the kind of laugh that made Dean smile. 

Something so simple as "Cows" became a steady reassurance between the two brothers. 

Sometimes Dean would spot them first, sometimes Sam. Usually Sam was the one to say it. And it was only cows that they ever acknowledged, even as they passed fields of horses, long horned ram sheep, strange looking llamas, goats, Canadian geese, deer, elk, and once a wild pack of dogs outside Billings. Their “Cows” mantra became a comfort that they never discussed but always smiled at.

When Dean was gone - to Hell, to Purgatory, to black eyes, and then to an archangel’s underwater prison - as Sam drove around the country in his brother’s car and passed fields upon fields of American farmland without Dean, whenever he’d see a herd of cattle he always muttered “Cows” to the empty Chevy.

And when his brother wasn't beside him, when Sam was feared dead in the pit - Dean would always, day or night, announce “Cows” over the rumble of Baby when he spotted the animals.

But Sam always came back. And Dean always got behind the wheel of his Baby again. Ready to roam together.

“Did you know there are over two hundred fifty types of cattle in the United States?” Jack asked clear as day from the backseat one afternoon. "That’s a lot of cows."

Sam chuckled and glanced over at Dean, who just shook his head and grinned as he looked out the windshield towards the heartland.

“Jack, you know what kind of sound a cow makes?”

“I think moo,” Jack responded. “Although I guess the moo could be different for each individual cow. Depending on the type, size, range, and diet.”

Dean and Sam shared a smile as the Impala crossed the Midwestern rolling fields of gold.

“Somethin’ like that, kid.”

**Author's Note:**

> I love comments and kudos! Thank you for reading!
> 
> Do not copy and paste my writing anywhere without my consent. This work is property of evansrogerskitten. Characters aren’t mine, but this fanfiction is. These works contain material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of these works may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher. An electronic reference link to the original posted work may be provided for purposes of promotion or assistance of publication by the readers discretion, if proper credits are given to the author in the re-post.


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